The Lorax 2: Into the Mystery
by The Potal
Summary: When O'Hare decides to join forces with a mysterious force, he ends up creating a time rift that ends up placing the younger version of the Once-Ler in present time. But who is this mysterious force? And why is she so interested in capturing the younger version of the Once-Ler?
1. The death is soon to come

I grimaced as my TV sized camera focused on the elderly Once-Ler. He smiled, unknowingly, as he continued on watering the young Truffula trees. I, the once powerful and mighty, O'Hare continued on watching him through the camera in my giant air blimp.

It had been a whole three months since that Once-Ler had convinced that kid Ted Wiggins to plant that tree in the middle of Thneedville. The sky, since then, turned into a sickeningly crystal clear, and the air had never been cleaner. That of course, had ruin my business. O'Hare Air was no more. All I had left was some of my men, my air blimp, and my zillions and zillions of dollars. But that wasn't enough! On the bright side though, I finally had my peace and quiet. The one and only thing I've missed so much since I'd started my empire. Ever since that kid, the townsfolk had kicked me out of Thneedville. Though the money was no longer multiplying, the peace and quiet had been pretty nice. Maybe-

No. I needed to get back. Oh and how I dreamed of how I would torture the Once-Ler for what he has done to me. How I craved to do it! To make him feel pain, to make everything he loves and holds dear into nonexistence. I had multiple ideas. My eyes grew to the size of cantaloupes when I thought about them, I loved them that much.

"Sir! Sir! What do you say?" one of my men said suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Huh, what did you say?"

I was at a meeting, going over how we could torture the old Once-Ler with my men.

One man leaned back in his seat. He shrugged. "Why can't we just kill him? Fast, easy, and painful, if done right."

I shook my head. "No. That kid Ted Wiggins and that weird orange fluffy meatloaf he hangs out with are surely to find his body, no matter what we do. And if any one is to find out that I killed him," I said laughing," Well, I can't have a murder on my record, right?"

The man nodded, thinking.

"Maybe I can be of some help?" a voice said suddenly. We all looked at the far end of the table, where a shadowy figure now sat.

"Who are you?"

The shadowy figure stood up and made her way towards we could see that the figure was short for a woman, and that she glided more than walking.

"That is none of the importance. But I have something that might help you with your, um, little problem." She pulled out an old book out of her cloak. The book, which had somehow created a strange sense in the air, was dark brownish green with vines and strange markings on it.

I cocked an eyebrow. "And this is suppose to help me how?"

The woman handed me the book. "This is no ordinary book. This is Book of Thoth, a book with the power to creating—or unraveling—the very threads of existence. And time travel. Bring the younger version of the Once-Ler, the one right after he cuts down all the Truffula trees, to the old man's Lurkem. And I'll take care of the rest ."

There was a moment of silence as I took this all in. I looked down at the book. I smiled. My smile quickly faded though, as I looked away from the book and at the woman. "Why are you helping me?"

"Lets just say the Once-Ler and I have some, uh, mends that we need to fix from the past."


	2. The Very Last Truffla Tree

"What a dump," a giant of a woman said, getting out of a giant RV, as I transported not to far away. The only things protecting me from view was giant trees. Urrrg. Trees.

_And there. There was the _**Once-Ler. **He gazed lovingly at the giant woman. Next to him was the hairy meatloaf man. Oh how it took all of my strength and willpower not to go over there and get him already. But he hadn't cut down the trees yet. Without him doing that, I'll still be a cleaning service man. Can't have that, no we can not.

The Once-Ler laughed, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Hey Aunt Grizelda!"

Without even looking at the Once-Ler, Aunt Grizelda stepped aside. _Huh. She didn't appear to like the Once-Ler. I liked her already._ "Hehehe, yeah!" two men said, coming out of the RV as well. "Hey Chett!" one said, picking up a Bar-ba-loot. They looked like hobos. "Check this out! Go long!"

Chett started running. "No! Um, Brett that's not actually, well okay," the Once-Ler said as Brett threw the Bar-ba-loot.

"Go long! Go long!"

"I got it, I got it I go-uff!" Chett yelled as he ran into a tree. The Bar-ba-loot landed on his face. "I got it," Chett said, his voice muffled. I raised an eyebrow. _This was my competition? _

Brett laughed before turning towards the Once-Ler. "He totally ran into that tree!" he yelled happily, slapping the Once-Ler's wrist. The Once-Ler stared at him run off before holding his hand in pain. "Ow!"

Suddenly there was a shrill gasp. A young woman, probably around the age of 36, with her hair standing up, gasped happily as she walked off the RV.

"Oncie, is that you?" the young woman said, walking up to the Once-Ler. The Once-Ler grinned. "Mom!"

"There he is! There's my big, suddenly successful son!" the Once-Ler's mother said, squeezing his face and kissing him. Aunt Grizelda rolled her eyes. I snickered.

The hairy meatloaf man looked absolutely horrified by the dead animal around her neck. He poked it.

"We always know you'll make it Oncie," the Once-Ler's mother said turning. "Right?"

"Hey! I love this guy!" a short man said, climbing upon the Once-Ler and hugging him.

"But you always said I wouldn't amount to anything, remember?"

"Oh, hush your mouth. I was just trying to motivate you."

The Once-Ler grinned. "I am very glad you clarified that because that actually hurt my feelings for a really long time."

He pulled the short man off of him. "Anyway, you are all here, and you work for me, and that's cool. So let's get to work."

The Once-Ler's mother smiled at him before suddenly yelling," Brett, Chett, set up the RV. And will you **stop** throwing that bear?!"

Brett dropped the Bar-ba-loot and rushed over to the RV.

Suddenly the RV started to shake. And get bigger. And bigger. Till it was the size(and a real one for that matter) of a house.

_"Hmmm, that would be a good investment," _I thought.

"No, no, no, no! Time out. Back up. Nope. Don't move an inch. Nobody's moving in here. You all, goodbye," the hairy meatloaf man said, stepping in between the Once-Ler and his family.

Aunt Grizelda grinned slyly. "So who invited the giant furry peanut?"

_Huh. I like that one. _

"You calling me a peanut? I'll go up your nose!" the hairy meatloaf man said, offended.

"Alright."

Aunt Grizelda gave the short man her purse, and the hairy meatloaf man and her would've started fighting if the Once-Ler hadn't intervened.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You wouldn't hit a woman?"

The hairy meatloaf man turned to face him and pointed at Aunt Grizelda. "That's a **_woman_**?"

"Whoa, okay, everyone cool it. Let's not get off the wrong foot here. Um, family, this is my friend-"

"Acquaintance."

"Oh, okay. Acquaintance, very good acquaintance, the Lorax. He speaks for the trees."

"That's right. And on the behalf of the trees, GET OUT!"

The Once-Ler's family gasped.

"Would you, just, they're my family!" the Once-Ler said, pulling the Lorax aside. "And I'm gonna need their help if my company is gonna get bigger. Okay?"

"Bigger?!"

"Yeah, this isn't a mampy wampy business anymore! I have plans! Big plans! A vision. A world filled with Thneeds. It's gonna be huge!" The Lorax sighed.

"Which way does a tree fall?"

"Umm, down?"

"The tree falls the way it leads. Be careful which way you lead," the Lorax said, before leaving.

I rolled my eyes.

**Two days later...**

I continued on watching the Once-Ler. Right now, he was busily scribbling on paper, planing his factory. "Hum. I mean, look at this. It's amazing. I am so proud of me," the Once-Ler said, leaning back in his chair.

I grimaced as I looked down at that stupid book that lady gave me. Instead of sending me right where I wanted to go, it placed me here, days before I could get back at that Once-Ler. Suddenly I hear a whine next to me. I looked up and saw Melvin, the Once-Ler's faithful mule. He gave me a," _What are you doing?" _look. I held out a Truffla fruit and put my finger to my mouth. Melvin took it and nodded.

Suddenly the Once-Ler's mother's face appeared out of the other window, the one facing the Once-Ler, and said, "Oncie, we've got us a little problem."

I jumped. _Dang, that woman was creepy._

"Problem?"

The Once-Ler's mother nodded. "Uh huh. See, we're not making Thneeds fast enough."

The short man came by the Once-Ler's window pulling a giant cart. He panted. "Harvesting the truffs takes too long!" We all looked over to where Brett and Chett were busily away harvesting the truffs. Brett would pull one out and give it to Chett, who in return, would take it and run all the way to the short man's cart. _"Well, of course it takes too long! Move the dang cart, you idiots!" _I thought. The Once-Ler watched his brothers with the same expression.

"Well, what else can we do?"

"Well, and this just came to me, we could always start chopping down the trees."

The Once-Ler looked at his mother, with a shocked expression. "What?"

The short man cheered. "Now you're thinking. That would speed things up!" The Once-Ler's mother nodded smugly.

"But-"

"No buts, Oncie, you're running a business now. You have to do what's best for the company, and your Momma!"

_Good grief._

"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to cut down a few trees," the Once-Ler said, smiling sheepishly. His mother gave a fake gasp and reached out to hug him. "You've made me so proud Oncie! Come here!"

She then leaped through the window and into his lap. The short man and his cart came around again. "Hey, I love this guy!" he said, smiling.

A few seconds later, Chett and Brett had grabbed their axes and were racing off to their first tree. The sound could be heard throughout the entire forest. "Heheheh.. Take that you stupid tree!" Brett yelled as he swung again and again like a crazed person .

The Lorax, who had been playing with three baby animals, gasped, horrified by this. "No, no, no!" he yelled as he ran to stop them. "Stop it! Please stop it!" Realizing that this had no affect on Chet or Brett, the Lorax raced towards the Once-Ler's Lurkim. He soon stopped short however, for Aunt Grizelda slammed down a huge pitchfork into the ground in front of him, nearly squashing him.

"And where do you think you're going?" Aunt Grizelda said nastily as she grabbed him and hung him upside down. "Excuse me sir, but I need to talk to your boss." The Lorax motioned towards the Once-Ler's Lurkim.

They both looked over towards the Once-Ler, who in return, closed his window. "Oh, I'm sorry, but Mr. Once-Ler isn't seeing anyone right now," Aunt Grizelda said slyly.

"Yeah?! Well, he'll _see_ me so hey hey! Keep your paws off me!"

The Once-Ler slightly opened his window.

"Give me a reason shorty!"

"Hey, you broke your promise!" the Lorax yelled, turning his attention towards the Once-Ler. "You're better than this! You gotta stop! This is bad!"

"Have a nice day!"Aunt Grizelda reared back and threw him as far as she could.

The lorax screamed as he flew out of sight.

"Bad? I'm not bad, I'm the good guy here," the Once-Ler said to himself as he turned and looked at himself in his mirror." He just doesn't get it. Do you think I'm bad?" He looked over towards a little baby Swommee Swan, which I hadn't even realized was there.

"Quack."

"Thank you. I mean something good finally happens to me, and he just has to come along and rain on my parade. What's his problem?"

"Quack."

"See?" He strummed on his guitar.

" Yeah ."

The Once-Ler got up, now completely sure of himself and that of which he was doing was right, left the building.

"Quack."

He started to sing:

_How ba-a-a-ad can I be? I'm just doing what comes naturally._  
_How ba-a-a-ad can I be? I'm just following my destiny._  
_How ba-a-a-ad can I be? I'm just doing what comes naturally._  
_How ba-a-a-ad can I be? How bad can I possibly be?_

_Well there's a principle of nature_

Once-Ler's family:_principle of nature_

_That almost every creature knows._  
_Called survival of the fittest_

Once-Ler's family:_survival of the fittest_

_And check it this is how it goes._  
_The animal that eats gotta scratch and fight and claw and bite and punch._  
_And the animal that doesn't, well the animal that doesn't winds up someone else's lu-lu-lu-lu-lunch_

Once-Ler's family:_munch, munch, munch, munch, munch_

_I'm just sayin'._  
_How ba-a-a-ad can I be? I'm just doing what comes naturally._  
_How ba-a-a-ad can I be? I'm just following my destiny._  
_How ba-a-a-ad can I be? I'm just doing what comes naturally_  
_How ba-a-a-ad can I be? How bad can I possibly be?_

_There's a principle in business_

Once-Ler's family:_principle in_ business

That_ everybody knows is sound._  
_It says the people with the money _

Once-Ler's family: _people with the money_

_Make this ever-loving world go 'round_  
_So I'm biggering my company, I'm biggering my factory, I'm biggering my corporate sign._  
_Everybody out there, take care of yours and me? I'll take care. of. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine._

Once-Ler's family: shake_ that bottom line_  
_Let me hear you say 'smogulous smoke' _

Once-Ler's family:_smogulous smoke_

_Schloppity schlop _

Once-Ler's family_: schloppity schlop_

_Complain all you want, it's never ever, ever, ever gonna stop._  
_Come on how bad can I possibly be?_  
_How ba-a-a-ad can I be? I'm just building an economy._  
_How ba-a-a-ad can I be? Just look at me pettin' this puppy._  
_How ba-a-a-ad can I be? A portion of proceeds goes to charity._  
_How ba-a-a-ad can I be? How bad can I possibly be? Let's see._

Once-Ler's family_: How ba-a-a-ad can he be?_

_ All the customers are buying._  
Once-Ler's family_: How ba-a-a-ad can he be?_

_ And the money's multiplying._  
Once-Ler's family_:How ba-a-a-ad can he be?_

_ And the PR people are lying._  
Once-Ler's famil_yHow ba-a-a-ad can he be?_

_ And the lawyers are denying._  
Once-Ler's famil_y : How ba-a-a-ad can he be?_

_ Who cares if a few trees are dying?_  
Once-Ler's famil_y:How ba-a-a-ad can he be? _

_This is all so gratifying._

_How bad._  
_How bad can this possibly be!?_

**One Month Later...**

Finally we were getting some where. It had been one whole month since I had came into the past but it was finally coming around to be worth it. The Once-Ler was finally cutting down all the Truffula trees. Only a few remained.

During that whole month, I had made myself useful to the Once-Ler. I was, in fact, now his second in command. Who would've guess that their second in command would be their destruction. He'll never see it coming.

The Once-Ler walked past me without as much as a second glance. I continued on typing away, despite the fact that the moment I'd saw him I had broken the computer. That's how strong my need was to hurt him. To harm him. To _kill _him.

Brett and Chett opened the Once-Ler's office door. It was soon closed, but you could still hear every word that came out of there. I had made sure of that.

"So how are things?"

Oh, the Lorax must be back. The Once-Ler will be calling me in soon to get rid of him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Happy yet? Filled that hole deep down inside you? Or do you still need more?"

* * *

**The Once-Ler's POV:**

I quickly walked past my second in command of the factory, Mr. O'Hare. I was eager to work on my new Thneedville ideas. Brett and Chett opened the door.

I quickly sat down. I smiled as I got ready to plan the town. Suddenly, I heard a voice.

"So how are things?"

I turned towards my balcony, to find Mustache.

"What are you doing here?"

Mustache turned around to face me. "Happy yet? Filled that hole deep down inside you? Or do you still need more?"

"Look, if you've got a problem with what I'm doing, why haven't you used your quote to quote ' powers' to stop me?"

Mustache sighed sadly. "I told you. That's not how it works."

"Right, I'd forgot, you're a fraud! I need you to get out. Now." Mustache leaped off the balustrade.

"Why? Do I make you uncomfortable? Remind you the promises you made? The man you used to be?"

"You know what?" I said, now getting rather angry. I mean, _who does he think he is? _ To be able to just waltz in here and tell me all this horrible stuff I've done?

"You can just shut your mustache. My concise is clear. I have done nothing illegal, I have my rights, and I plan to continue on biggering and biggering and turning more Truffla trees into thneeds. And nothing is going to stop me!" Mustache landed on the ground with an uff! We had now both manged to walk all the way down my stairs and onto the hard dead ground. Suddenly we both heard a noise. As we both turned, we saw it. A Truffla tree was being cut down. The very last one.


End file.
